The present invention relates to a connector for a substrate (hereinafter referred to as a substrate connector throughout this application).
A substrate connector has conventionally been used for being mounted on a substrate of a printed circuit board and the like to be connected to other electric circuits and the like. Such a substrate connector is provided with a plurality of L-shaped terminals projecting backward of a main body of the connector and a guide plate for use in guiding the terminals (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2006-147372).
FIG. 18 is an exploded view of a conventional substrate connector.
As shown in the FIG. 18, the substrate connector has a first terminal assembly 801 and a second terminal assembly 802 which are made of a conductive material such as a metal; and a terminal holding member 803 made of an insulating material such as a synthetic resin for supporting the first terminal assembly 801 and the second terminal assembly 802. Further, a plurality of terminals of the first terminal assembly 801 and a plurality of terminals of the second terminal assembly 802 are attached to the terminal holding member 803 in a state where the terminals are arranged in parallel with each other. In addition, the periphery of the terminal holding member 803 having the first terminal assembly 801 and the second terminal assembly 802 attached thereto is covered with a connector housing (not illustrated) formed in a box-like shape. Further, the substrate connector is a so-called receptacle connector and a mating connector connected to a front end of a cable (not illustrated) is fitted to be plugged into the substrate connector.
In addition, each of the first terminal assembly 801 and the second terminal assembly 802 has L-shaped terminals, which project backward, respectively, from the terminal holding member 803 and is entirely bent approximately at a right angle, so that a front end thereof is directed downward. Further, the lowermost end of the downward portion of each terminal assembly 801 and 802 is mounted on a surface of a substrate (not illustrated), so that each of the first terminal assembly 801 and the second terminal assembly 802 is bent in parallel to the surface of the substrate to be formed in a solder tail portion. Then, the solder tail portion is mounted on and connected to a connection pad which is formed on the surface of the substrate by soldering.
The terminal holding member 803 has an attaching portion 804 and a plate-like extending portion 805 which is formed to extend forward from this attaching portion 804, so that respective horizontal portions of the first terminal assembly 801 and the second terminal assembly 802 are attached to be laid along the lower surface and the upper surface of the extending portion 805. Then, a plurality of first terminal insertion ports 811 into which the horizontal portion of the first terminal assembly 801 is inserted and a plurality of second terminal insertion ports 812 into which the horizontal portion of the second terminal assembly 802 is inserted are formed in the attaching portion 804 in parallel with each other.
Upon attachment to the attaching portion 804, the horizontal portion of the first terminal assembly 801 is located on the lower side of the horizontal portion of the second terminal assembly 802 and a vertical portion of the first terminal assembly 801 is positioned in front of the vertical portion of the second terminal assembly 802. Therefore, the vertical portion of the second terminal assembly 802 is formed so as to be longer than the vertical portion of the first terminal assembly 801, so that the vertical portion of the second terminal assembly 802 is easily displaced by the influence of any external force such as vibration and a thermal stress. Therefore, in order to prevent the displacement of the vertical portion of the second terminal assembly 802, a guide plate 815 is secured to the attaching portion 804.
The guide plate 815 is a plate-like member provided with a plurality of positioning grooves 816 into which the vertical portions of respective terminals of the second terminal assembly 802 are inserted and the guide plate 815 has the laterally opposite ends so as to be locked in a first guide groove 817 and a second guide groove 818 which are formed in the attaching portion 814. Hence, displacement of the vertical portion of the second terminal assembly 802 is surely and reliably prevented and the vertical portions of the adjacent terminals of the second terminal assembly 802 do not come in contact with each other and the tail portion attached to the connection pad by soldering is not separated apart from the connection pad due to a force applied to the tail portion.
However, with the conventional substrate connector, there is difficulty in mounting the guide plate 815 on the attaching portion 804, and therefore, its workability is rather low. Additionally, when mounting the guide plate 815 on the attaching portion 804, a portion of a complimentary member might be partially damaged or broken and/or the guide plate 815 might fail to be surely mounted on the attaching portion 804, so that play in the guide plate 815 might occur and may be eventually separate from the attaching portion 804.
Taking the above situation into consideration, for example, in order to lock the lateral opposite ends of the guide plate 815, it may be contemplated that a protrusion for locking is formed within the first guide groove 817 and the second guide groove 818. In this case, when an amount of projection of the protrusion for locking is determined to be large in order to certainly lock the guide plate 815, it is necessary to give a large amount of force when inserting the lateral opposite ends of the guide plate 815 in the first guide groove 817 and the second guide groove 818, so that its workability becomes low. In addition, applying a large amount of force and inserting the lateral opposite ends of the guide plate 815 in the first guide groove 817 and the second guide groove 818, the protrusion for locking and a certain member of the lateral opposite ends of the guide plate 815 may be worn or damaged. Further, if there is a large error in the length between the lateral opposite ends of the guide plate 815 and in the depth of each or both of the first guide groove 817 and the second guide groove 818, it becomes necessary to apply a large amount of force when mounting the guide plate 815 on the attaching portion 804 or play in the guide plate 815 which is mounted on the attaching portion 804 might occur, or the guide plate 815 might be dismounted and separated apart from the attaching portion 804.